Randidly Ghosthound left the Nexus.

Congratulations! For pushing yourself beyond the edges of your Universe, +1 Muse’s Reverie! Muse’s Reverie: 7/8.

His first impression of the environment was frigid chaos. He blinked as waves of colors, gravitational, and temporal forces hit him. The conflicting currents slammed against him, powerful enough to tear a lesser individual to shreds. Probably no one under 1000 in Vitality and Endurance would be able to survive, not while the absence of dimensional fabric meant that images were restricted.

Yet obviously, it was less a torturous way to dive for Randidly Ghosthound and more like diving into freezing water.

His skin prickled at the cold bit of entropy as he passed through the gaps between isolated spaces. His powerful senses pinged outward and he abruptly wished he had pulled back on his curiosity; the folded dimension of cracks and spaces through which he now cracked possessed depth on a scale that left Randidly alarmed. Like just peeking too deeply would overbalance him and he would be pulled down into the abyss, tumbling forever and ever, unmoored and lost.

And then he finally finished passing through the dimension of crooked thresholds, finding a veritable sea of foreign images that washed against him. He straightened subconsciously but felt an instant sense of relief as he felt the firmness of the ground beneath his feet.

He had made it. So he looked around, careful this time to limit his exacting senses in their scope.

Randidly found himself standing in a luminous starfield with nebulas rotating slowly above and comets drifting sluggishly below. He floated in the middle of ‘space’ in its most stereotypical, awe-inspiring form. Yet that was just the beginning of the sensations that rushed to tantalize him. In a more than physical way, he felt very, very small.

Congratulations! Your Skill Arch-Heretic’s Thaumaturgy (P) has grown to Level 1943!

Congratulations! Your Skill Emerald Eyes and Dove Whispers Certify the Objective (GD) 1809!

The small hole in the depths of his Nether Core hinted at it, but the outer multiverse was filled with movement and force from a billion conflicting ideologies. None were manifesting close to him, but Randidly could vaguely feel the shadows from those entities populating the Sea of Statues stretching in every direction. The grouping of gleaming stars to his left had a stale scent of bone dust and stone crypts. Below him, amongst the asteroid belts, he felt an almost overwhelming urge to grow and procreate reaching up from fields and fields of mutated plant life.

Congratulations! Your Skill Emerald Eyes and Dove Whispers Certify the Objective (GD) 1857!

A surly red dwarf behind Randidly rang with the clang of hammers and unending fire. He felt a nebulous feeling of unreality from one glittering cloud of celestial debris, all dreamscapes and swirling kaleidoscopes. One cluster of three tiny moons released a piercing craving for a sword strong enough to cleave apart the fabric of space. Each of these represented at least a single universe, with many housing multiple, even hundreds of universes, making the shadow of the statues darker and more weighty in this outer multiverse.

Randidly chewed on his lips as he considered the vast expanse of power he sensed in every direction. “Tch, guess it’s a bit much to expect me to waddle out of the Nexus as a heavyweight fighter… Laplace is an Eternity that wasn’t even strong enough to possess his own universe. That’s why he was desperate enough to invade the Nexus with his actual body…”

Still, the multiverse around Randidly was rather inert, for the fearsome wider domain that had repeatedly attempted to invade the Nexus. The areas of influence of the varying statues were clearly defined, but Randidly didn’t see another living being in the area. Or traveling in the channels between these zones Which, at least, meant that maybe this would be a bit easier than he had-

Just as Randidly allowed his tense muscles to relax with relief, a notification popped up in front him.

Welcome to the purview of Providence. Examining parameters…

New User noted. Scanning… Identity set as Randidly Ghosthound. Please proceed to your nearest Hub in order to register your Identity within the official Providence System. Unregistered Users will experience restrictions to their capabilities until they comply.

Establishing restrictions on new user-

Randidly grimaced and braced himself… and felt absolutely nothing.

Warning! Failure to allow the restrictions to settle into place will result in severe consequences! The Providence System views unregistered users as threats to public safety and stability! Please accept the restrictions and proceed directly to your nearest Hub.

There was a slight buzzing in the air and the activation of some esoteric Aether shapes, but that was the only shift. Again, Randidly did not feel any sort of restrictions even attempting to affect him. He scratched his cheek, feeling somewhat helpless. But I guess I’m so numbed by blasting out all of this Aether and Nether…

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

New User Randidly Ghsothound, this is your final Warning!

You have refused to accept restrictions. Determining punishment… Scanning…

Dimensional Class Entity detected! Randidly Ghosthound (Unregistered) has been set as a Dimensional-Class Threat! Inflicting Dimensional-Class punishment…

“Oh.” Randidly blinked as he finally felt something: a punch to the diaphragm with all the force-

Randidly sucked in a breath and considered. Well it had, even a little less force, than a punch Elhume had thrown in their duel earlier. Without the benefit of the Nexus father’s streamlined image. And if you were to compare Elhume’s physical capabilities with Randidly’s-

Examining… No damage to transgressing new user detected.

Randidly Ghosthound has been upgraded to a Universe-Class Threat. Contacting Authorities for infliction of punishment…

The fabric of space around Randidly shivered. Some hidden call sounded out. This time the tumbling arrangement of Aether became apparent. Almost immediately, the hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle as he felt the attention of several powerful beings fixate on his position.

And in the distance, Randidly saw a small star growing distinctly brighter… as it rushed in his direction.

Okay, looks like we are going to do this the hard way. Randidly’s jaw clenched. He focused inward for a minute, rapidly suffusing his Vessel with Nether. The energy needed to be as balanced as possible, so the new order could settle as quickly as possible.

The downside… Randidly Ghosthound needed to remain outside of the Nexus, and subject to this petty Genesis System, until everything within him was resolved.

Don’t hesitate for too long, Pine.

*****

Pine couldn’t help but look up in wonder at the cascading lights. He had observed the action of the Nexus for thousands of years, but now he stood in the middle of it all. When he blinked, he felt tears forming in his eyes.

The golden lights feel like warm raindrops, Pine thought to himself as he raised his snout and sniffed. The Engraving churned beneath his paws, spreading wildly outward. He witnessed the individuals who answered Randidly Ghosthound’s call for action swept up in the Engraving, riders with strange steeds and massive first dragons mingling freely with winged serpents and humanoids. They shouted and pointed at the cascading lights, displaying the same wonder that Pine felt.

Pine hated them, just a little bit, as he looked at them. He blinked his eyes rapidly. Where were the answers when I needed help?

His mood quickly soured, even as the Engraving grew larger and larger, the momentum of change more and more powerful. It hummed up through the ground and through Pine’s legs. Because right next to them stretched an overwhelming threat.

The dark subconscious of the Nexus had spatial cracks undulating and crackling around it like tentacles. It inched closer, no longer just falling, swelling to press against more and more of the Nexus in every direction. Those few golden sparks that were unfortunate enough to tumble toward the darkness were devoured.

Even worse, Pine could feel the souls from within the subconscious. He remained connected to them all, even if his flight from Laplace had severed a portion of that sensitivity.

Yet they shouted and screamed. Their emotional demands racked across his psyche. Those dead souls, so long trapped, frothed at the mouth to escape. His hunger came from a physiological place, but this… this was something deeper and darker. Disappointment and resentment had transformed hunger into weapons that would destroy as much as they could manage.

Even just to be acknowledged.

Pine’s fur stood on end. Just like with the development of Fates, he could feel himself shrinking away from the present, withdrawing into himself. Even though he was briefly sated, staring that wild hunger in the face reminded him what he would need to encounter in the future, just to survive. Please… I don’t have anything more to give…

“It’s normal to be afraid.”

Pine hopped sideways. He hadn’t expected the Ghosthound’s Soulbound companion Neveah to turn up next to him, her fingers smoking vaguely from recent Engravings. He spared her a glance and hunched his shoulders. Pine decided denying he was afraid was pointless. “This is not about fear.”

“You don’t want to help us. Do you disagree with our goals then?” Neveah tilted her head to the side.

“Your goals-” Pine shivered as a particularly dense wave of entropy scythed through the edge of the Engraving area and hit the group. A split second later, the roots running through the whole of the Engraving released an indignant pulse. The Engraving spun and grew larger. The geyser of golden sparks began to flow in particular patterns, forming a better defensive barrier.

Pine shook his head. “I have no issue with your intentions. However… my own place in your new order… I am not sure…”

Pine trailed off, staring into the looming darkness. Perhaps because of the lights helixing up in the foreground, the backdrop of oblivion felt so stark. And so peaceful. A peace he dearly craved, after having pounds of his flesh ripped away for so long by greed. By suffering in silence with only his hunger for company.

He stared at the darkness and believed, with his whole heart, that it would just be easier this way.

Neveah stepped in front of him. “The truth is, Pine, you don’t know what you want, do you?”

“I want a cessation of pain.”

Neveah’s eyes crinkled. “Not a true desire, but a reaction driven by base survival instincts. Something bigger. Bigger than all the other things, what do you want?”

To go back before I ruined it all, Pine thought miserably. He remembered his mother and father, and even if the hunger was fearsome back then, he at least had them.

After a few moments of silence, Neveah scratched Pine’s head. “Come with me. Let me show you what I desire.”